Adults with learning difficulties/disabilities
The Learning and Skills Act 2000 uses the term learning difficulty to include any learner who has significantly greater difficulty in learning than most other learners of his or her age. This can include both people with a cognitive disability and also those with other physical or sensory disabilities that might affect their learning.
These descriptions are for guidance purposes only as the range of skills that adults and young people with learning disabilities possess will vary according to a number of parameters including context and nature of disability. It will be unusual to find two adults with the same skills’ profile.
Teaching adults with learning difficulties requires the breakdown of tasks into component skills. These skills need to be taught and practised and can be assessed as part of the unit.
Whatever the teaching approach, the learners may require a considerable amount of reinforcement before it can be considered that they have truly acquired the skill, even then this acquisition is unlikely to be long lasting unless the skill is used frequently.
These levels are not to be confused with e1 to e3 of the literacy and numeracy curriculumor ESW standards.
Entry 1 learners are unable to live independently. They may have some difficulty following oral instructions but may be able to learn by using a combination of approaches including visual demonstration and physical guidance. They are unlikely to be able to respond to questions concerning topics and objects outside their immediate environment unless within a totally familiar context
Entry 1 learners would probably have some difficulty expressing their feelings and preferences and questions may often have to be rephrased or learners taught to use appropriate tools or aids.
Entry 2 learners are unlikely to be able to live independently. They can follow simple oral instructions and can complete more complex tasks if additional visual demonstration is used, and theycan respond to questions concerning topics and objects outside their immediate environment e.g. what sports do you like?
They may have some social sight recognition of words and be able to count but have a weak concept of the value of even small numbers of objects and their general numeracy may be poor.
Entry 2 learners would be able to express their feelings and preferences in simple terms.
Entry 3 learners will be able to live largely independently with only occasional support. They will be able to follow oral instructions and are may be at e1 within the literacy and numeracy frameworks. There may be some learners who are able to read reasonably fluently but they would not necessarily have the cognitive skills to apply or interpret what they have read. Equally they may be able to go through the mechanics of the four rules of number but their problem solving or estimation skills may be limited.
